Sunday, November 12, 2017

Tom and Jerry is an American animated series of short films created in 1940, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. It centers on a rivalry between its two title characters, Tom and Jerry, and many recurring characters, based around slapstick comedy.

In its original run, Hanna and Barbera produced 114 Tom and Jerry shorts for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1940 to 1958. During this time, they won seven Academy Awards for Animated Short Film, tying for first place with Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies with the most awards in the category. After the MGM cartoon studio closed in 1957, MGM revived the series with Gene Deitch directing an additional 13 Tom and Jerry shorts for Rembrandt Films from 1961 to 1962. Tom and Jerry then became the highest-grossing animated short film series of that time, overtaking Looney Tunes. Chuck Jones then produced another 34 shorts with Sib Tower 12 Productions between 1963 and 1967. Three more shorts were produced, "The Mansion Cat" in 2001, "The Karate Guard" in 2005, and "A Fundraising Adventure" in 2014, making a total of 164 shorts. Various shorts have been released for home media since the 1990s.

A number of spin-offs have been made, including the television series The Tom and Jerry Show (1975), The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show (1980–82), Tom and Jerry Kids (1990–93), Tom and Jerry Tales (2006–08), and The Tom and Jerry Show (2014–present). The first feature-length film based on the series, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, was released in 1992, and 12 direct-to-video films have been produced since 2002.

Here's the first set of episodes spanning years 1940-1945

1940

01. Puss Gets the Boot - Feline "Jasper" is given an ultimatum by his master: break one more thing and you're out! Rodent Jerry does his best to make sure that his tormentor "gets the boot". Tom is named "Jasper" in this short and Jerry is known as Jinx. First cartoon nominated for an Academy Award for Short Subjects, Cartoons.

1941

02. The Midnight Snack - First official cartoon in the series. Jerry's raiding the fridge, carrying off a giant wedge of cheese. Tom's feeling playful, so he piles the cheese high with dishes, builds a set of bread-slice steps, and ends them on a rolling pin. This sends Jerry crashing, of course. Jerry puts the cheese back. Tom dips a paw into a bowl of jelly in the process and decides to raid the fridge; he puts Jerry's tail under an iron. After some snacking, Tom buries Jerry in the cream from a creampuff. But he also tosses the cheese wedge into the china cabinet, bringing Mammy down to scold him.

03. The Night Before Christmas - It's snowy and cold outside, and warm inside where Jerry squeezes past a mousetrap to cavort under a present-laden Christmas tree. Mistaking the sleeping Tom for a plush toy, Jerry wakes the cat and a mad chase ensues. Various toys come to Jerry's rescue as he dashes about. Mistletoe is his final refuge before he must escape to the outdoors just ahead of Tom's claws. Out in the snow, he may become a mouse Popcycle, and unless Christmas peace can descend, Tom may be in for a nasty surprise as well. Can the lads find the spirit of the season?

1942

04. Fraidy Cat - Tom hears a ghost story on the radio and is spooked by it; Jerry notices this and takes advantage of it, using a variety of tricks to scare Tom.

05. Dog Trouble - First appearance of dog Spike. Tom's chasing Jerry when he runs, literally, right into the sleeping (and quite nasty) dog later known as Spike. Spike chases Tom up a lamp; Jerry's quite amused, until Spike turns on him and traps him in a cuckoo clock. Spike trades off between the two of them, until Tom climbs down the lamp, then finds himself depending on Jerry to help him to the clock. They're both trapped, then Jerry has an idea...

06. Puss n' Toots - Tom is playing with Jerry when someone delivers a cute lady cat for Mammy to take care of. Tom is smitten at first sight, and primps a bit. He offers a fish and a canary, but she's not interested. He then retrieves Jerry (filed under "M" in a filing cabinet), again proving unusually competent. He does several magic tricks with Jerry, producing him in a box of chocolates and Toots' bow, and finally tucking Jerry behind him. While trapped there, Jerry grabs a hat and uses the hat pin to even the score a bit...

07. The Bowling Alley-Cat - As the title implies, Tom and Jerry are in a bowling alley. Both spend a lot of time sliding on the well-polished lanes. Eventually, Jerry takes up residence among the pins and Tom tries to bowl him down.

10. The Lonesome Mouse - First cartoon in which Tom and Jerry speak. Jerry crashes a vase onto Tom's head, which gets Mammy to throw Tom out. Jerry revels in his freedom, among other things turning Tom's picture into a Hitler caricature then spitting on it. But he soon tires of this, and under a flag of truce, hatches a plan with Tom. The abnormally talkative duo stage a grand chase, but whenever they're out of sight of Mammy, they fake it, pausing for patty-cake, a turkey leg, and a drum jam session. Eventually, Tom chases Jerry under a rug, then swaps in a tomato, which Mammy crushes. With Jerry apparently vanquished, Tom is rewarded with a pie, but when Jerry tries to claim his share, Tom shuts him out.

11. The Yankee Doodle Mouse - First cartoon to win an Academy Award for Short Subjects. As Tom and Jerry stage their typical fight sequences, the patriotic soldier theme of the title is evidenced by such things as a carton of eggs labeled "Hen Grenades"; Jerry dropping light bulbs from an airplane like bombs; and Jerry sending a telegram with the message "Sighted Cat - Sank Same." Musical phrasings from various patriotic war songs are heard throughout.

12. Baby Puss - First appearances of Butch and Topsy. Poor Tom! Not only does his young owner insist on dressing him like a baby, but he also has to bear the humiliation of being spotted by his cat friends. And Jerry can't believe his good fortune when he spies his foe in diapers and a bib.

1944

13. The Zoot Cat - Jerry speaks again. Tom's advances on a young jive-talking girl cat get nowhere; nowhere, that is, until Tom gets a zoot suit. Armed with his miles of fabric and a new cool lingo, Tom still has to deal with the tricks of his nemesis, Jerry. Solid, Jackson!

14. The Million Dollar Cat - Tom inherits $1,000,000 from an eccentric aunt on the condition that he not harm any living thing - even a mouse. And guess which mouse keeps following him around and pointing this out to him? This is the first time Tom wins a fight with Jerry.

15. The Bodyguard - Spike speaks for the first time. Jerry rescues Spike from the dogcatcher. In gratitude, Spike tells him that any time he needs help, just whistle. Tom proceeds to give Jerry many reasons to whistle, and tries several approaches to keep him from whistling, notably a glue-covered jawbreaker.

16. Puttin' on the Dog - Jerry runs into a dog pound (and right on top of a napping Spike) to escape a rather mangy-looking Tom. To avoid being ripped to shreds, Tom borrows the head of a nearby dog statue. This easily fools the dogs, but not Jerry, and Tom keeps losing his newfound head...

17. Mouse Trouble - Won an Academy Award for Short Subjects, Cartoons. Tom is excited when the postman brings a package; it's the Random Mouse book "How to Catch a Mouse." Tom tries each chapter in succession: locating the mouse, the basic trap, the snare, being scientific, and preying on the mouse's curiosity. At each turn, Jerry uses the chapter's information better than Tom, so Tom turns to brute force: a mallet, a bear trap, a double-barreled shotgun, and a mountain of explosives. By the end, will the cat or the mouse have earned his eternal heavenly reward?

1945

18. The Mouse Comes to Dinner - Tom invites Toots to an elegant dinner. However, he's made the mistake of trying to put Jerry to work, as a serving boy, a corkscrew, and other tasks. Jerry puts up with a little of this, but mostly gets revenge on Tom, mostly involving the tip of Tom's tail, which ends up in a sandwich, inside a dessert, and in a candle-holder. Meanwhile, Toots isn't too happy about Tom getting fresh with her. There's a chase, of course, featuring Tom stabbing a turkey while Jerry, safely outside, makes sounds of pain. Tom ends up with his tail stuck up like a mast as Jerry paints "S.S. Drip" on his side and Toots launches him into the punchbowl with a bottle of champagne.

19. Mouse in Manhattan - Jerry decides he needs a vacation from the county and Tom so he leaves Tom a note and heads for New York City for some peace and quiet. However, Jerry has a number of unpleasant experiences in New York (being chased by cars and cats among other things) and it isn't long before he changes his mind and heads back home to the country.

20. Tee for Two - Tom is golfing, but the ball keeps jumping out of the cup, thanks to Jerry. Tom puts Jerry to work as a tee, but Jerry keeps doing things like replacing Tom's ball with a bird's egg that hatches in flight, or tying his club to his tail.

21. Flirty Birdy - Tom is all set to eat Jerry when a hawk swoops down and grabs Jerry. To get Jerry back, Tom poses as a female hawk and quickly finds his new lover to be more than he bargained for.

22. Quiet Please! - Won an Academy Award for Short Subjects, Cartoons. The family dog warns Tom not to make any noise so he can take a nap. Jerry hears this and immediately devises plans to ensure that the dog's nap will be interrupted (breaking plates, playing musical instruments, etc.)